She and Allan | Page 8

H. Rider Haggard
is the answer that comes to me in my dreams, Macumazahn."
"Well, what token will you give me, Zikali?"
He groped about in his robe and produced a piece of ivory of the size of
a large chessman, that had a hole in it, through which ran a plaited cord
of the stiff hairs from an elephant's tail. On this article, which was of a
rusty brown colour, he breathed, then having whispered to it for a while,
handed it to me.
I took the talisman, for such I guessed it to be, idly enough, held it to
the light to examine it, and started back so violently that almost I let it
fall. I do not quite know why I started, but I think it was because some
influence seemed to leap from it to me. Zikali started also and cried
out,
"Have a care, Macumazahn. Am I young that I can bear bring dashed to

the ground?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, still staring at the thing which I
perceived to be a most wonderfully fashioned likeness of the old dwarf
himself as he appeared before me crouched upon the ground. There
were the deepset eyes, the great head, the toad-like shape, the long hair,
all.
"It is a clever carving, is it not, Macumazahn? I am skilled in that art,
you know, and therefore can judge of carving."
"Yes, I know," I answered, bethinking me of another statuette of his
which he had given to me on the morrow of the death of her from
whom it was modelled. "But what of the thing?"
"Macumazahn, it has come down to me through the ages. As you may
have heard, all great doctors when they die pass on their wisdom and
something of their knowledge to another doctor of spirits who is still
living on the earth, that nothing may be lost, or as little as possible.
Also I have learned that to such likenesses as these may be given the
strength of him or her from whom they were shaped."
Now I bethought me of the old Egyptians and their /Ka/ statues of
which I had read, and that these statues, magically charmed and set in
the tombs of the departed, were supposed to be inhabited everlastingly
by the Doubles of the dead endued with more power even than ever
these possessed in life. But of this I said nothing to Zikali, thinking that
it would take too much explanation, though I wondered very much how
he had come by the same idea.
"When that ivory is hung over your heart, Macumazahn, where you
must always wear it, learn that with it goes the strength of Zikali; the
thought that would have been his thought and the wisdom that is his
wisdom, will be your companions, as much as though he walked at
your side and could instruct you in every peril. Moreover north and
south and east and west this image is known to men who, when they
see it, will bow down and obey, opening a road to him who wears the
medicine of the Opener-of-Roads."

"Indeed," I said, smiling, "and what is this colour on the ivory?"
"I forget, Macumazahn, who have had it a great number of years, ever
since it descended to me from a forefather of mine, who was fashioned
in the same mould as I am. It looks like blood, does it not? It is a pity
that Mameena is not still alive, since she whose memory was so
excellent might have been able to tell you," and as he spoke, with a
motion that was at once sure and swift, he threw the loop of elephant
hair over my head.
Hastily I changed the subject, feeling that after his wont this old wizard,
the most terrible man whom ever I knew, who had been so much
concerned with the tragic death of Mameena, was stabbing at me in
some hidden fashion.
"You tell me to go on this journey," I said, "and not alone. Yet for
companion you give me only an ugly piece of ivory shaped as no man
ever was," here I got one back at Zikali, "and from the look of it,
steeped in blood, which ivory, if I had my way, I would throw into the
camp fire. Who, then, am I to take with me?"
"Don't do that, Macumazahn--I mean throw the ivory into the fire--
since I have no wish to burn before my time, and if you do, you who
have worn it might burn with me. At least certainly you would die with
the magic thing and go to acquire knowledge more quickly than you
desire. No, no, and do not try to take it off your neck, or rather try if
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 154
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.